Love On The Big Screen

Love On The Big Screen is a novel, written by William J. Torgerson.  This book is about a guy, named Zuke, who is trying to find love. 
In many ways, I can relate to Zuke.  Throughout my formative years, many people would tell me that I was trying too hard to fall in love or find the right girl.  At times, I would say that Zuke is obsessed.  It seems like he has a whole business plan for how to capture the heart of Abby. 
To show you how the story is layed out, I had forgotten Abby's name.  For some reason, I kept wanting to call her Amy.  I looked through summaries of the book and reviews and could not find her name anywhere.  That's because this isn't about her.  She is any girl in Anytown USA.  It could have been any female.  The story was more about Zuke game planning to win her heart and we saw the journey through his eyes, which I found to be unique.  You're not usually privy to the guy's point of view. 
I found the story to be well organized.  I could clearly see the Rising Action, Climax, then the Falling Action.  I was sucked in during the Rising Action because I wanted to see how Zuke's pursuit of Abby was going to turn out.  I really need to go back and read the book again because I was so interested in this aspect that I glossed over so many of the character building details that could help me to put together the entire picture of who Zuke is.

The Bottom Line

I loved this book, because it made me think of my college life.  I have to admit though, I never had a friend that was nicknamed Flabby, although I could have easily inserted Big Red.  The point is that we all have a group of friends in college that we do weird things with, or have unusual rituals that we share amongst each other.  Reading this book took me back to a place where I could recall these activities. This book will take you on the journey that you once took in high school or college with a great group of friends that you did everything with.  What you won't get in Love on The Big Screen is the predictable journey.  Life isn't predictable, so I feel like that is the one thing that Torgerson did that most people can embrace.  He stayed true to himself by taking us on a voyage that made me think he was waiting to see how it was going to turn out himself.  Life is not something that you can map out and come out with the canned response.  Whenever you think things are lining up, there is always an unusual circumstance that comes up that is unforeseen.  That's what I like most about Torgerson's writing style. 

What I didn't like is that the book ended where it did.  I would love for there to be a sequel or epilogue that picks up right where this book ends.  It wasn't exactly a cliffhanger ending, but it left me wanting more.  I suppose that's the gift of a good writer.  They leave you wanting more.

The Birth of Dorm Ball

One day, my friends and I were hanging out in my dorm room and someone began throwing a basketball up in the air, as if they were taking the game winning shot in the NBA Finals or something.  As we continued to talk, the ball continued to go up towards the ceiling and fall back into their outstretched arms.  As this went on, we collectively wondered how close he could get the ball to the ceiling without the ball hitting.  From there, Dorm Ball was invented.

How to play Dorm Ball

1.  There are 10 rounds

2.  There are 2 players

3.  Each player sits at the far corner of the room so that they are at the furthest point, diagonally, away from each other.

4.  Each player gets one throw per round.  During this throw, they have to throw the ball to the person on the opposite side of the room.  The object is to arc the ball as close to the ceiling as possible without having the ball hitting it.  Also, the ball must go to the other player without the partner having to move from their seat to catch the ball.

5.  There is a third person, who sits in the middle and scores the entire competition for both sides.

6.  Scoring is from 0-10.  A 10 is in the "I can't believe that didn't hit the ceiling category".  Anything less than 5 is a completely pathetic throw.  If the ball hits the ceiling or if the opposing player is unable to catch the ball because it's a bad throw, then a score of 0 is awarded for that round.  If the ball lands short of the opposing player as a catchable throw, but that player drops or doesn't try for it, then there is no penalty to the thrower.

7.  After each player has completed 10 rounds, the scores are tallied and whoever has more points is the champion.  If the players are tied, then there is a 3-round overtime period.

St. Patrick's Day Parade

This is a little delayed, but in the category of "Better Late Than Never", here is my recap of the St. Patrick's Day Parade held in Uptown.  It's remarkable to me that the only college to be represented in the parade was good old St. Bonaventure, even though our school is a good 10-12 hours away.  It was an early start to the day at Town Tavern, where a good amount of St. Bonaventure graduates met up for some fellowship and laughs.  By this blogger's estimate, there were about 45-60 alumni packing into this bar. 
There was a lot of laughing and reminiscing about the good times at school and updates about our current situations.  There were 3 people at Town Tavern who actually lived on my floor during Freshman year at Bonas.  Small world!  We spent the wee hours of the morning catching up before heading into the position for the parade.  Armed with our St. Patrick's Day T-Shirts and Bojangles cups, we all marched to the float that you can see above and below.  You probably could have fit about 20-30 people on the float but, for some reason, the person driving the float only wanted about 8 people on the float.  Truth be told, our float wasn't exactly designed by the Acme Float Company.  With every step you took on the float it rocked one way or the other.  We probably could have done a great Hawaii 5-0 skit by using the float as a surf board that was going over some waves.  A great idea, that obviously went unconsidered is that if you don't want the float to hold more than 8 people, than build things onto the float that prevent people from standing on there.  As it was our float was just a series of platforms just inviting people to ride on the float.  I'm pretty sure Miss America never had to endure this.  In any event, we went through the parade with about 15-20 people on the float, and most of us were bouncing up and down to the music. 

You can get a better view of the float from the picture above.  As you can see, there is a significant amount of real estate for people to go on the parade route from the float. 

I've been to several parades as a child and it never occurred to me that the people in the parade could be "Average Joe's" like my classmates and I.  It was truly amazing how many people came out just to see the floats go by.  There were several people who recognized our school and "Cat-Called" to us from the crowd.  It was so exciting to hear so many people cheering for our university.
The actual parade route was probably about 30-45 minutes, but we had such a great time!  There were easily thousands of people in attendance.  At any particular junction, you could see that the crowd was about 10 people deep and it seemed to go on forever.

This is my view from the float.  You can see the impressive crowd along one side of the float.  This was easily rivaled on the opposite side of the street.  Again, you can see how amazed these kids are by our float.  You would have thought Chris Rock was on the float or something.  I seriously spent at least half of the parade thinking to myself, "I wonder what these kids are finding so enthralling about our float.  Did someone fall off the float or something?"  The good news is that no one fell off, it's just us and our green shirted unity that the masses had their attention sucked into.  My friend, Joe, is seen walking along the float in an effort to calm the float driver's nerves after asking, several times, for people to get off of the float.  For some reason, I don't recall hearing the driver asking.  Perhaps it was the girl next to me who was yelling and bouncing up and down like she was on a trampoline.  Let's just say that stability was not a big selling point of this particular float.  A large gust of wind...who am I kidding....any wind at all would have been problematic for this float as it was teetering and tottering as it was under perfectly ideal conditions.  I'm pretty sure it's parade float days are in the rear view.

Once the parade route was over, we all went our separate ways.  There was a cool Irish festival that was located at the end of the parade route and there were so many things to see.  There were Irish knick-knacks to buy.  Against my better judgment, I bought one.  There was food and drinks that could have satisfied even the pickiest individual, and to top it all off, there were singers and dancers.  It was a lot of fun!  I can't wait until next year so that I can relive the entire experience!

LLEGANDO A...BOO-BOO-DINI IN FLORIDA!

What is a dog to do if she can't take a vacation once in awhile?  Poor Sammie!  She has the daily grind of laying in bed, eating breakfast, taking 2-3 walks, and then sleeping around the house all day with a swizzle or two in the mix to break things up. 
Last weekend, she got to go on a much needed vacation to see Grandma in Florida.

Here we are in the car on the way down to see Grandma!  As you can see, Sammie is very excited!  She loves going for car rides and by the looks of this, you would think that we do also.

She loves staring down other drivers as they pass by.  I'm pretty sure that they always blink first.  She's a tenacious little one when it comes to her mind tricks.

The sun and paparazzi were bothering her eyes.  Of course, we had to protect her privacy!

Photo time with her favorite Great-Grandpa, Bop!   Just as we said "Cheese", she saw a cookie out of the corner of her eye.

Picture time with Sammie and Grandma!  Again, distracted by dreams of cookies that might be slightly off-camera.  Alas, it was not to be.

Relaxing in the pool!  Sammie's wondering "Where in the world did my sunglasses get away to?"

Swimming lessons for Sammie!  Here she is, learning how to float.  Look at her paws.  They are screaming, "This is the life!"

The end of a tiring day.  Sammie is like "Daddy, I can't swim one more lap, carry me out please!"

Leardini is like Smith

When I was growing up, I had many people tell me that my name was unusual.  Well, you can only listen to this so many times until you conduct some informal research to see exactly how unusual it really is.  Well, come to find out, if you research the name Leardini in Italy, it turns out that's it's much more common.  It's almost like looking in a phone book in the United States for the name Smith.  Ok, well, it's probably not that common, but there are several people with the last name "Leardini" in Italy and the surrounding region. 


There are even a lot of Leardini's in California that I have never even met or talked to.  So, the Leardini name is much more prevalent than even I knew when I was growing up. 

When I was growing up, I thought that everyone in the world was Italian and Catholic.  When I go back to look at my high school yearbook, about 85% of the people had a name that ended in a vowel.  I'm sure there were all different denominations of churches where I grew up, but I thought they were all Catholic.  Even when I went to college, almost everyone was Catholic.  In fact, there were even masses held on campus.  Come to think of it, though, not too many of my friends were interested in attending.  It was a huge surprise when I moved down south to see that there weren't very many Catholic churches.  In my area, there are 4-5 that are within reasonable driving distance, but there are a lot of other denominations that I am aware of.  To get to our church, we pass at least 2-3 different denominations, maybe more.  Growing up, we passed 2-3 Catholic churches to get to ours.  It's funny to think about how different things are and how my perception of things changed. 

Interesting little tid-bit.  One of our favorite news anchors/reporters was Ben Thompson, who was with our ABC affiliate.  Ben was the late night reporter during the week and on the weekend, he was on the anchor desk.  Then one weekend, he wasn't there anymore.  It's almost like some of these anchors become part of your family.  You see them every so often and trust them to bring you the latest news.  Then, one day, they're gone.  I spent moments over the next several months wondering where Ben went to and why he wasn't on the news any longer.  Then, this past weekend, there was a rain storm in our area and they reported on the NBC affiliate that Ben Thompson was reporting at the scene!  So, now I have a decision to make because, I really don't enjoy watching the NBC channel because I think there news broadcast is mostly fluff.  Also, there are quite a few "family members" that I enjoy watching on the ABC channel.  Let's face it, I'm a creature of habit, so it's going to be a rare day that I switch the channel, but I like Ben, so I just might check him out.  Who knows, maybe he'll bring some credibility to the news.

Boo-Boo Mania!

How To....Not Get Sick!

Not a doctor or anything, but here's my take on this. 
1.  Don't touch door knobs or handles. 
This one can't be understated.  If you don't believe me, observe how few people actually wash their hands while in the bathroom.  I remember thinking that almost everyone did.  Wow, was I wrong.  I believe the actual, in office, percentage is more like 50-60%.  I wish that I was kidding.  These slobs then go and grab the same door knob or handle that you will grab when you follow them out the door.  Avoid this by using a paper towel or your shirt sleeve to grab the door knob or handle.  If this isn't possible, then try to grab a part of the door handle that most people wouldn't think of touching.  I usually try to grab the very bottom of the handle.  Like most things, I'm probably outsmarting myself on this one.  The truth is that some snot nosed kid probably grabs the bottom of the handle because it's the only part they can reach.  Right after them, here I am grabbing a handful of their germs.  Blech!
2.  Clean and wipe down anything and everything on your desk, often!
While less egregious, the next offense is probably ten times more potent.  Ever notice the person in your office that is sick and uses their hand to cover their mouth when they sneeze or cough?  How considerate of them, you think.  Think again.  Ok, first of all, hasn't anyone ever heard of coughing and sneezing into their elbow or arm?  Come on people, use some common sense.  If everyone would just use their arm rather than hands to cough/sneeze into, then we would probably eliminate the spread of germs by at least 20-25%.  Instead, they cough or sneeze into their meathooks, which are now, *Shock Alert*, filled with germs, mucus, and other fun little treats.  The petri dish that now exists at the end of their arms are soon to pass a litany of diseases on to you.  "How?", you ask.  They come to your desk and "borrow" your pen, stapler, hole punch, mouse, keyboard, etc.  Next thing you know, you're using these objects and the germs go right to you.  Honestly, at this point, I want them to just keep the items that they've "borrowed".  "No, really, I insist, you keep the pen!" 
3.  Don't touch your face!
So, when the goober in your office finishes sneezing all over their hands and then grabbing your pens, you unknowingly transfer these disgusting germs to yourself by using the item they've borrowed and then touching your face with the very hand that is having it's own personal "Germ-O-Rama".  The "Germ-mobile" has now made it's delivery by way of the infested co-worker's hands, onto your desk supplies, and onto your face by way of your hand. Gross!  This is one that I've got to think about everyday.  I constantly touch my face without thinking about what I've just touched or who I've come into contact with.  As a result, I'm in the bathroom washing my hands like it's my job.  Now, if only I could get that written into my review.  Pefect transition to my next point....
4.  Wash your hands often!
So, your co-worker has the courtesy of sneezing or coughing the contents of the Physician's Desk Reference onto your belongings.  Even more considerate than that is they don't have the common sense to wash their hands before spreading their "cheer" onto you.  Don't let their negligence put you at risk!  Head right into the bathroom and wash your hands, especially if one of these sickly individuals has "made nice" with any or all of your belongings.  I know that I'm a little excessive when it comes to this, but I'll even take Clorox Wipes and clean the items that I believe have been used/touched by others.  Many people will keep a bottle of hand sanitizer at their desk, but I personally feel gross after using it because my hands feel sticky and icky.  It's just a complex and in reality your hands are much cleaner after using the sanitizer than before.  My point is that whether it's soap or sanitizer, it beats the fool who's been digging in their bodily orfices and are now touching everything you hold as holy and sacred on your desk/person.
5.  Use Listerene and Nasal Rinse on a Regular Basis
Among the endless forwards that I receive and delete without reading, there actually was one that I was glad I took note of.  It was going through all these ways to stay healthy and the #1 piece of advice was to use Listerene and a nasal rinse twice daily.  The idea behind these 2 is that when the inconsiderate "piece of work" in your office passes on the gift that keeps on giving, it doesn't inflict bodily harm right away.  The germs have to infect your body somehow and usually that is by getting into your nasal passages or mouth/throat.  They use these parts of your body to grow until they are able to infect and hamper your immune system.  The best way to combat this, once the germs are in your body, is to rid yourself of them before they begin to grow and cultivate.  Use Listerene in your mouth, by gargling for 30 seconds or so.  This will kill most, if not all germs in your mouth.  The nasal rinse performs a similar function in your nose.  The lack of use of the nasal rinse is particularly disturbing to me.  You wouldn't think of going anywhere without brushing your teeth twice a day, so why would you think of not cleaning out your nasal passages just as often.  As entertaining as it is to walk around with the buildup of dirt and germs in your nose, it's probably one of the more objectionable parts of daily hygiene that people are oblivious to.  I'm sorry, blowing your nose is not a substitute to this.  If that were the case, why not rub some tissue along your teeth instead of brushing/flossing.  If you agree with that, you're probably the specimen that doesn't wash your hands when you're walking out of the bathroom in front of me.  I remember talking about the nasal rinse with my grandma and she replied, "...my doctor said that I've got to do this everyday for it to be effective."  Really, grandma?  You don't say. What's the problem with that?  This isn't like waxing a car where you can do it two or three times a year and the snot beads off of your nose for months at a time. 

6.  Avoid the plague, like it's the plague...or something...
If you see a sickly individual around you, avoid them as much as possible.  My co-worker has no problem telling the nearest walking infection to get away from her.  She'll turn to their face and say, "You can leave now!"  She's got the right idea.  While it may seem to be insensitive, I say it's every man/woman/child for themselves in avoiding the next illness.  Just think, is that person going to be there for you while you're at home laying in bed unable to breathe properly?  Most likely, they're feeling better by then and living it up while you're suffering through every breath.

Good times, right?

Mason-Dixon

One of the more fascinating "landmarks" in the United States is the Mason-Dixon line.  Supposedly, this is the line that divides the north from the south.  There is a sign denoting it's presence at the southern most border of Pennsylvania along interstate 95.  For some reason, I've not noticed this on the western border of Pennsylvania when traveling along interstate 79. 
So, why write a blog about this, right?  Well while I report that there is a sign denoting the point at which a person approaches the Mason-Dixon Line, there appears to be no other physical landmarks to visit at this point.  My trusty friend, the Internet, has told me that there are small stone markers that occur every 5 miles near the Mason-Dixon Line to denote where you are in relation to the line with a "P" engraving meaning you are on the Pennsylvania side and an "M" engraving meaning that you are on the Maryland side of the line.

When I used to teach, the students had to take their standardized tests with roughly a month left in the school year.  After this, many teachers showed movies, had "Play Day" or other activities that were not largely attached to the objectives that had to be taught throughout the year and were largely tertiary in relation to normal instruction.  I never believed in this, mainly because it was my job to teach as long as school was in session, but also because I observed that many classrooms had behavior problems due to the unstructured nature of these school days.  My goal was to keep the day as normal as possible.  One activity that I used to work with students on was to plan a trip across the country.  During this trip, there were certain things that they would have to work into their trip, such as determining how much gas they would have to buy, where they would eat, and most importantly, which landmarks they would like to visit.  Great idea, right?  Well, it wasn't without complications.  One group decided that they would like to plan a trip to the Mason-Dixon Line. 

Here's my transcript of this revelation:
Me: Where are you traveling to?
Student: The Mason-Dixon Line...
Me: Why?
Student: Uh........
Me: What are you hoping to see there
*At this point, all of the students in the group are looking at each other trying to recall why they thought of this landmark.*
Me: Here's the deal, you've got to choose landmarks where there are things to do.  Do you know of any activities at the Mason-Dixon Line?
Student: Um.....no
Me: There might be more to it than this, but as far as I'm aware, there is a sign at the side of the Interstate saying "Mason-Dixon Line" and that's it.  It's not like there is a line painted across the road with a museum attached.
Student: Oh
Me: You can still go to the Mason-Dixon Line, but it won't count as one of your five landmarks

Student looks at me as if I'm crazy with the "Why would I want to do that" expression on their face.
Mission Accomplished and yet still Impossible.

So, beyond the fact that I taught my students the important lesson of working smarter not harder, I was also disappointed to reflect on the fact that there wasn't any museum of sorts to commemorate the Mason-Dixon Line.  It's one of the most famous lines in the United States.  After all, especially along the east coast, you always here someone say
"That's the stupidest looking outfit this side of Mason-Dixon..." or
"That is the finest cow this side of Mason-Dixon...", etc.
You get the idea.  Most great or dubious ideas are held in the regard of being the top or bottom in relation to their location with respect to Mason-Dixon.  As if, there could be a finer cow on the other side of Mason-Dixon, but we can't be sure so we're going to put the disclaimer out there.

Would love to report that this is the finest blog this side of Mason-Dixon, but sadly, when you write a blog about Mason-Dixon, you've said all that you have to say about your status.  Maybe I'll just buy one of those "Adopt-a-Highway" signs so I can at least put myself on par with Mason-Dixon, give or take a bicentennial.